The American Presidency

POLS 151-501

Dr. Rachel Paine Caufield

Summer 2002

Mondays and Wednesdays 6:00-9:50pm

Meredith 206

Contact Information:

I am very accessible to students. Hereπs how to find me:

Office: Meredith Hall 211

Office phone: (515) 271-1924

Home phone: (515) 710-3745

Email address: rachel.caufield@drake.edu

Office hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 5:00-6:00pm

Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:00-5:00pm

Course Overview:

The American president is often referred to as the most powerful man in the world. To a great many people (both in the U.S. and in other nations), the President of the United States (P.O.T.U.S) represents an omnipotent figure capable of changing policy (both within the U.S. and outside the U.S.) at a momentπs notice. One of the central themes of this course is this perception of presidential power and the extent to which it represents reality. As such, we will explore the constitutional authority of the president, the constraints and limitations on the office, and the ways that the presidentπs power has changed over time. Certainly, this is a unique time to study the presidency. We have seen remarkable changes in the presidency during the past nine months that deserve significant attention not only for their immediate political ramifications, but because they fit into a broader conceptual framework of presidential power.

The central focus of this course is the American Presidency ≠ not the president, but the presidency. Certainly, a large part of studying the presidency is the people who occupy the office, but we will go beyond studying people to concentrate on the institution. This includes an examination of the presidentπs staff, the Executive Office of the President, the Cabinet, and the bureaucracy, as well as the ways that the president interacts with the legislative and judicial branches of government. The course will begin with an examination of the foundersπ conceptual vision for the presidency. Next, we will focus on the selection of presidential candidates and the electoral system that ultimately determines who will be president. We will then move on to an examination of the executive branch more generally, including the Executive Office of the President, the Cabinet, bureaucratic agencies, and the presidentπs problematic relationship with the rest of the executive branch. Last, we will explore the presidentπs relationship with the legislative and judicial branches of government and how that relationship has changed over time.

This course is not an opportunity to espouse your own political opinions. Whether you agree or disagree with President Bushπs domestic policy agenda, whether you believe that Bill Clinton was a great man, a terrible man, an evil master manipulator or the hero of the people ≠ those opinions are completely irrelevant to what we do in this classroom. To put it simply, check your politics at the door. Look instead for some analytical understanding of how the president gets things done, how things have changed over time, and how the president (and those who work with the president) is constrained by the Constitution, historical precedent, and the larger political system. Similarly, although I highly encourage all students (and all people) to follow current events and engage in the political world around them, this is not a course about current events.

Having said that, I highly recommend that each of you keep up with the news by reading a daily newspaper, tuning in to television programs such as The News Hour, This Week, or Meet the Press, and radio programs like Morning Edition or All Things Considered (both on National Public Radio). In addition, the nature of the Presidency makes it easy to find regular news and commentary on the president. National newspapers will be a good source of information ≠ check out The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com), The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com), The Chicago Tribune (http://www.chicagotribune.com), or The L.A. Times (http://www.latimes.com) for current information about the president and the executive branch. In addition, you may want to check out the White House website at http://www.whitehouse.gov, (donπt try www.whitehouse.org or www.whitehouse.com) and the FirstGov Executive Branch website (http://firstgov.gov/Agencies/ Federal/Executive.shtml).

Textbooks/Readings:

Without a doubt, the best thing that you can do to earn a good grade in this class is to keep up with class reading. Because this is a summer class, the reading load will be very heavy but youπll benefit from the effort. Not only will you get more out of class meeting if you have completed the assigned reading, but exam material will come from these readings. If you find that you have trouble with any of the readings, please feel free to discuss it with me and weπll go over it. I do reserve the right to administer pop quizzes to be sure that everyone is keeping up with reading assignments. If this should become necessary, I will revise the grading criteria to account for these quiz grades.

There are a number of textbooks that I have assigned for this course. All are available at the bookstore, and all should be available from online bookstores, Borders, or Barnes and Noble (should you choose to patronize them instead of the University bookstore). Periodically, I will assign additional readings that are on reserve at Cowles Library.

Required:

DiClerico, Robert. 1999. The American President. Prentice Hall.

Lowi, Theodore. 1986 (reprint). The Personal President. Cornell University Press.

Nelson, Michael. 1997. The Presidency and the Political System. Congressional Quarterly Press.

Neustadt, Richard. 1991. Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents. Free Press.

Wayne, Stephen. 2000. Road to the White House 2000. Bedford/St. Martins.

Attendance:

You are expected to attend class regularly and to be prepared for each class meeting ≠ that means you have read the assigned reading prior to arriving in class and you are prepared to discuss the topic listed on the syllabus. I do not necessarily ≥require≤ attendance, although I will periodically take attendance and ten percent of your final grade will be based on attendance and participation. If you are faced with an extreme situation that will require an absence from the class, please come see me. Given the short time span of the course, each class meeting will be extremely important.

Grading:

During the semester, you will be asked to complete 3 short (i.e. approximately 6-7 pages) papers commenting on the reading. You will also take two essay exams, a midterm and a final (which will not be cumulative). In addition, each student will be responsible for leading class discussion about a specific reading assignment (approximately 30-45 minutes in length). These assignments will be graded and your final course grade will be based on the following:

Midterm: 20%

Final: 20%

1^st short paper: 10%

2^nd short paper: 10%

3^rd short paper: 15%

Class discussion leader: 15%

Attendance and Participation: 10%

In order to pass this course, you must complete ALL course requirements (i.e., if you fail to complete and turn in any one assignment by the last day of the summer session (July 12), you will fail the course). There will be no extra credit offered.

Only in extreme circumstances will extensions for written-assignments be granted. If you would like to request an extension, you need to do so at least 24 hours prior to the due date. All assignments are due at the beginning of class on the due date. Should you fail to turn in an assignment on the date that it is due, you will lose 5 points for each day that it is late (including weekend days). You must turn in all coursework to me personally, and I will not accept any assignments over email. If, for any reason, you must turn in an assignment and you cannot do so personally, I have a mailbox in Meredith 227. Please make sure that you have someone (another faculty member or the administrative aide) initialize the date and time that you are dropping off the assignment. If an assignment does not have the date and time that it was turned in written clearly on the first page (initialized by someone), I will mark it as being received when I pick it up from my mailbox. All assignments must be completed specifically for this course and academic integrity guidelines will be strictly enforced (i.e. plagiarism and other breaches of academic integrity will result in a failing grade for the course).

If you wish to request a make-up exam, you must do so at least 24 hours before the exam. I will administer make-up exams only in extreme circumstances. No one is entitled to a make-up exam, they will be offered only at my discretion.

Should you require any testing or classroom accommodations due to learning disabilities or other circumstances, I will be happy to make those accommodations. I will need to see proper documentation within the first week of class (i.e. by June 15).

Written assignments:

Three short papers (apx.6-7 pages each): These papers are designed to allow you to integrate information from the readings and classroom lecture/discussion. For each of these papers, I will provide a question that you are to address by using information taken from these sources. These are not opinion papers, but are intended as a way for you to pull together different theoretical perspectives and arguments into a coherent discussion. You should aim for broad analytical responses rather than personal observations or simple recitation of the authorsπ ideas. Remember that you MUST cite ALL of your sources. Failure to do so is plagiarism and will result in a failing grade for the course.

Examinations:

The course also includes two exams, a midterm and a final (each is graded out of a possible 50 points). Each of these exams will include five multiple choice questions (worth 2 points each) specifically about the reading assignments. In addition, you will complete four ≥identify and discuss the significance of≤ questions (worth 5 points each) and one essay question (worth 20 points). I will discuss the format of exams in more detail as the semester progresses. Some of the exam material will come from lectures and class discussion, some will come directly from the reading material. Before each exam, I will conduct special office hours to allow you to ask questions. I highly suggest that you take advantage of this. The final exam is NOT cumulative, although concepts from earlier in the semester will certainly be used in later material.

Class discussion leader:

You will be responsible for leading classroom discussion for 30-45 minutes. The format of this is completely up to you. Each of you will be responsible for some reading assignment. Your goal is to find a way for the class to recognize and integrate the ideas of that author. You may choose to lecture, you may choose to come up with a few discussion questions and moderate discussion by the class, you may choose to set up a debate format with your classmates, you may formulate some type of ≥game≤ for your classmates to play ≠ the possibilities are endless. Remember that in presenting the material, you want to be sure that the ideas of one author are tied to other prominent authors that we have read and lecture material that we have discussed in class. Remember as well that this is not a chance for you to push your own ideological agenda, it is a chance for you to become a professor for a portion of the class meeting. Think seriously about how to best approach the material. Your performance as discussion leader will be graded by me, as well as your classmates.

Schedule:

The following is a list of topics and reading assignments for the class:

Week/Date Topic/Reading Assignment

Week 1

June 10 The Foundersπ Ideas about the Presidency

The Presidential Dilemma ≠ Institutional Powers and Constraints of the American Presidency

Reading:

Federalist #69 and #70

DiClerico preface

Rockman (Nelson chapter 3)

Skowronek (Nelson chapter 5)

June 12 Presidential Selection and elections

Reading:

DiClerico chapter 1

Buchanan (Nelson chapter 10)

Start Wayne

Week 2

June 17 First paper due

Presidential Selection and Elections continued

Reading:

Wayne (all)

June 19 Presidential Power/Presidential Personality

Reading:

Barber (on reserve)

Neustadt (chapters 1-7 and 10-12)

Skim DiClerico chapter 9

Week 3

June 24 Second paper due

White House Organization

The Executive Office of the President (EOP)

The Executive Branch and the Institutional Presidency

Reading:

DiClerico chapters 6 and 7

Hess (on reserve)

Burke (Nelson chapter 15)

June 26 Exam #1

The Vice President/The Cabinet/Bureaucratic Agencies

Reading:

DiClerico chapter 11

Selection from Heclo

Moe (Nelson chapter 16)

Pika (Nelson chapter 18)

Week 4

July 1 The President and Congress

Reading:

DiClerico chapters 2 and 3 (read 3 first)

Peterson (Nelson chapter 16)

Quirk and Nesmith (Nelson chapter 19)

July 3 Third paper due

The President and the Courts

Reading:

DiClerico chapter 5

Maltese (Nelson chapter 17)

Start Lowi

Week 5

July 8 The Public Presidency and the Problem of Leadership

Reading:

Lowi (all)

DiClerico chapters 4 and 10

July 10 Exam #2

Discussion of recent changes in the nature of the presidency within the political system

Reading:

DiClerico chapter 8